A Month To Save Pitch Black
by alexis.belt.7
Summary: A girl wishes to help pitch black remember who he is after she finds his story on wiki. Pitch hates the girl, always bothering his stuff. He can't seem to see her worse fear, but he knows its there. Can she help him remember before the month is up? Will he find and use her worst fear against her? Will she be terrified enough to become a fearling?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_**Alexis**_

She was on her mom's old Dell. She was a fan girl of 'Rise of the Guardians.' She was writing fan fiction, but her mind drifted else where. She had read Jack Frost's story, Toothiana's, Bunnymund, Sanderson Mansnoozie. But most of all, Pitch's. It made her cry, how could someone so good turn so evil? She only wished she could help. _I just want to help. _she sobbed, tears going down her face.

When it was night fall, all she could think about was the good man named Kozmotis Pitchiner. A man who would have done anything for his wife and daughter. It was unbearable to her. He didn't even remember his past life, his daughter and wife.

_If you want to save him so bad, then do so, girl. _A voice says into her head. She lifts her head off the covers. Whose there?

"Whose there?" she asks, out loud. She wasn't really scared of anything, not really. When people asked about it, all she said was, I've seen worse. She should have been asleep by now, she was going to be too sleepy for school. She checks the time on her phone,, eleven-thirty. Coffee wasn't even going to wake her up in the morning.

She groans, flopping back onto the bed. All along she knew it, she was crazy. She would always hear little voices inside her head. She sighed, why couldn't she be normal? _Are you going to help him or not, you insolent girl? _the voice says again. It was a man's, with a slight nasally quantity to it. She knew she wasn't imagining it now.

Alexis looks up, moonlight was seeping into her room. A lighted wondering crosses onto her face. She touches it, the light illuminating her hand. Then an image fills her head, Man in Moon. She thought him fake, a myth, legend. But indeed he was here, but a little rude. "I can help?" she asks, hope on her face, The moon seems to smile mockingly. She doesn't seem to notice.

_Yes, child. But, there is a catch. You only will have a month. That is all I will allow. I can't spend all my time making sure a child doesn't turn to a fearling. _he says, annoyed. But, the moon thought, this shall be entertaining. How many times has someone said they could save the infamous boogeymen? He lost count after about thirty. The either turned to a fearling, died, went into shock, or Pitch killed them. _Sanderson Mansnoozie will take you. _the moon says.

Yes, this would be entertaining. A month filled with laughter as another child cried not having changed Pitch back to his former self. The child was so oblivious, as if she couldn't see the smugness on Manny's face.

But, little did he know, the child hated the moon. And knew of his selfishness and smugness. But she didn't let him know, no point really. Just leverage for later.

* * *

She didn't know when she fell asleep. All she wondered throughout that Friday was her 'dream'. Was it a dream? She didn't know. But when she got home, and after needing to be finished homework, she found out. It had not been a dream, for the Sandman himself was in a jet plane of sand. The girl smiles, running to her window. Then she frowns. What about her mother, sister, and brother? What about her homework, school? Sandy seems to see this.

Sandy looks to the moon. _Your mother thinks your at a private school camp._ The girl all about glares at the moon, but decides not to. He probably brainwashed her mother. With that out of the way, she jumps on. Then reads a book called 'Between Bitter and Sweet' on the ride there.

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**Sorry it's short, this is the prologue. My regular chapters are up to 2,000 words long. Please don't steal idea! Oh, please review, it makes my heart smile. (:3**


	2. Chapter 1: Day 1

**Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is boring, but it's a must be.**

* * *

_The world is a dangerous place to live in; not because the people that are bad in it, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. - Albert Einstein _

* * *

Alexis exited the plane, Sandy waves a handkerchief to her. She smiles, then looks around. In front of he is a statue, a statue of a family that looked rom the early seventeen hundreds. She smiles, she's really in Burgess. She never thought she would actually get to see this place. Instead of being cartoonized, it was all life like. She walks towards it, brushing her hands across it. She brings out her phone and snaps a picture.

"Hey!" someone shouts, a boy. She turns around, not at all spooked. Alexis smiles, it was Jamie Bennet. Just like in the movie, Jamie was adorable. He was still missing his front tooth, but it was starting to grow back. It was autumn, so he was wearing a jacket. Behind him trailed his friends. Pippa, Monty, Caleb, Claude, and Cupcake. The girl smile, there so little-ish.

"Hello." she says firmly, grinning. Jamie and his friends smile back. Then he frowns.

"Was that the Sandman?" he asks, looking desperate. The mysterious girl nods, crouching down to his level.

"I believe so." she answers. Jamie's brow furrows.

"Why... why were you with him. Of course if you don't mind me asking." he looks troubled. Jamie looks down, his cheeks red. Whether from embarrassment or the blistering cold.

"Well, Jamie. I came to see, ah, you could say, old friend." she responds, not wanting to get the little boy and his friends wild up from the mention of Pitch. Jamie's eyes widen.

"How, how do you know my name?" he asks, in barely a whisper. Alexis laughs.

"I know a lot about you and your friends. How? I don't know if I should say." the girl frowns. Cupcake marches up.

"You mean... you know about Pitch? The guardians?" she asks, her tutu flowing with the wind. Alexis nods.

"Mhm. Jack Frost, E. Aster Bunnymund, Nicholas North, Toothiana, and Sanderson Mansnoozie." she replies. Then she remembers she forgot about Pitch. "And, Kozmotis Pitchiner." She finishes. Cupcakes eyes go wide, so does the other's.

"Who's Kozmotis Pitchiner?" he asks. Alexis's smile turns to a frown.

"You probably don't know him, doesn't even know himself, really." she replies quickly. Jamie frowns.

"Oh." he replies. "Why are you here, anyway?" he asks. Alexis stands back up, towering over his friends.

"Like I said, an old friend." she replies with a slight monotone. The wind goes by them. Suddenly, a white haired boy goes past them. Jamie looks panicked.

"Can you see him?" he asks in a whisper. She laughs.

"Of course, t's Jack Frost." she replies. Jamie looks relieved.

"Good, he doesn't do well with people passing through him." he replies. The girl inwardly sighs. She was always giddish inside when she was being professional-ish. She really wanted to jump up and down at the sight of Jack Frost. But she stood still. Alexis firmly grips her suitcase. Jack lands.

"Hey Jamie?" he says, then Jack sees Alexis. He takes an inward breath. "Ok, Jamie. Shake your head once if she's going to attack you." Jamie doesn't shake his head. "Well, ok. Shake your head if it's ok to talk in front of her." he asks. Jack expected no shake of the head. She was at least fourteen, she couldn't believe in him.

Before Jamie can nod, she clears her throat. "Let me answer for the boy since it's about myself. Hi, I'm Alexis." she says, trying to not let her fangirl side show. She lets go of her luggage and reaches out her hand.

Jack looks surprised, he is frozen in place. How could this girl see him? "How can you see me?" he asks, alarm in his voice It could be a trick. She looked like it enough. Brown hair, that wasn't the creepy part. She had whites, of course, but her whole iris was BLACK.

She laughs. "Is this a trick question? Because I believe in you, silly." she says, shaking her hand in front of her in a passé motion.

Jack's eyes harden. "Did Jamie make you believe?" he asks, of course he was glad. But this was still a trick in his mind.

She rolls her eyes. "No. I believed in you anyways. It's complicated. Not a story for the moment." she replies, she was getting annoyed. She dusts off her skirt. "Well, it was... interesting meeting you all. But, ta-ta!" she says, turning around and waving goodbye. Jamie and Jack look at each other, boy was she weird.

* * *

The girl starts walking through Burgess's forest. She was getting frustrated, she couldn't find the bed and the hole. How hard was that? Then she remembered something, she face-palms. In the movie, he was buried. But, at least a piece of the bed had to be somewhere. It was ironic, the Boogeyman really lived under children's beds. Alexis rolls her eyes at that thought.

She claws the ground for anything, a sign of burial, sifted grass. She found that near a tree. The tree was dead and pathetic, but beside it was a piece of splintery wood. Alexis picks it up gingerly, then recoils. She sucks her thumb, then pulls out the splinter. The hole had to be here somewhere. She starts carefully tapping her foot on different terrains in the woods.

Suddenly, her foot goes underground, she screams. She's falling, headfirst. Alexis frantically looks around, she can't be putting off fear. That means Pitch and the fearlings will know she's here, she didn't need them knowing yet. Grabbing out, her hands finds a root, she grabs on. She breathes a sigh of reief, then starts climbing down.

Once she reaches the bottom, Alexis dusts off her skirt. Then she looks around. Tunnels lead to different places, someone to get lost in. But she wasn't getting lost, she had dream sand. She takes out a pouch, the Sandman had given it to her for her to navigate. Opening the pouch, yellowish orangish sand leaks from it. It floats for a second, then leads down passage after passage intill it stops in front of a room.

Taking out a piece of paper, Alexis writes down the instructions, not wanting to forget how to get there. She smiles, looking at her handy work. A horribly scribbled map lays in her hands. She sighs, then opens the door. The first thing she notices is the bed, it was too big for the room. The walls were black, but nearly white from all the cobwebs.

A dead fish in a fish tank floats on top the water. "Eww." she mutters, feeling disgusted. If she was going to live here for a while, it wasn't going to be here. She blows an invisible hair out of her face. This was just awesome. But good came from this, she got to go shopping. On her own. Then her smile falters, she needed money.

Sticking a hand in her pocket, she remembers the twenty still in her pocket from shopping with her mom. She could at least buy cleaning supplies. Time to get to work.

* * *

Scratching his neck, Jack Frost looked confused glancing over a pond in Burgess. Who was that girl? How did she see him at her age? Who was she visiting? All these questions swirled through his mind, but all of them un-answered. He sighs, leaning on his staff. Why was he so worried anyway, it wasn't like she could do damage. But she had been escorted by Sandy. Where they friends, was he protection foe her, or was he protecting people from her?

As these even more harder questions cam eto his attention, lights glazed the day sky. Jack smiles, something to take his mind off of the girl who calls herself Alexis. He takes a running head start, then jumps into the air. The wind catches him as he races through the sky. "Whoo-hoo!" he shouts, wind whipping his hair. He had already forgotten, almost. Her face was still plaguing his mind. He needed to know answers. Why doesn't he ask Sandy for himself?

Jack lands in front of the Pole, then knocks on the thick, wooden doors. Big footsteps shake the ground, and the door opens revealing Phil. "Hey Phil!" he shouts, causing Phil to cover his ears. Phil removes a hand to escort Jack tot the globe room, still not fully trusting him.

The globe room was the same as ever. Two twin swords adorned the mantle piece, while a flickering fire warmed the room, much to Jack's discomfort. He shrugs it off, it wasn't too bad. Arm chairs are facing the fireplace, the leather red. Jack smiles, everything here was red or green. Suddenly, a big man comes in.

"V'ell, v'ello Jack!" North cries, bringing Jack into a bone crunching hug. Jack tries to smile, but he can't breath. Finally, North lets go.

"Hello to you to, North." Frost replies, a cocky grin placed on his face. North chuckles just as the others come in.

Tooth zooms in, placing her fingers into my mouth. "Ack, ack." I try saying words, but her hands block them out.

"Tooth." North warns playfully. Tooth's cheeks turn red.

Sorry, Jack. There still beautiful." she compliments, flying to her seat. I do the same. Once everyone's in their respective seats, the meeting goes on. North and Kangaroo fight over which holiday is better. Tooth commands orders to her fairies. Sandy tries to get everyone's attention. That reminds me.

"Hey, Sandy?" he asks, trying to get Sandy to hear him over the commotion. Sandy acknowledges him. He unfolds his arms in a 'what' matter. By now everyone's quiet. "Well, I saw you giving a girl a ride today. What is she doing here?" Jack asks, getting nervous . So does Sandy.

_The girl, Pitch, house._ Sandy makes the sand images above his head. "What do you mean she's staying with Pitch?" I almost yell

_The girl, brain, hand, Pitch. _That one took Jack a second. "She's... helping Pitch?" he asks, then it dawns on him. "Another person thinks they can help him?" he tries. Sandy nods, then rolls his eyes at the girl. Tooth perks up.

"We have to see if she's ok!" she shouts, buzzing up and out of the window. Everyone else looks to each other for confirmation, then take off.

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**QUESTION (answer this and the next chapter is dedicated to you, yes you!) : how does the quote up above relate with the story?**

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**Ending Author's Note: Please review! It makes my heart smile! (:3**


	3. Chapter 2: Day 2

**Dedicated to: Mystichawk and Guest**

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_Hope is a pleasant acquaintance, but an unsafe friend._

_-Thomas Chandler Halliburton_

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**Reviews:**

**yori neko **thank you, it is.

**angelwithshotgun **I'm glad your excited about this story

**Mystichawk **You got it right, you were the only person to get it right. But yeah, this story has been on my mind for months now. I finally decided to make it. I'm glad you like it. I do believe I did review to your story, it's great!

**emmawinterfrost **I'm sorry, that wasn't it. :(

**Guest **Kinda, but I'll give you credit :)

* * *

Alexis wakes up to the alarm on her phone blaring Summertime Sadness. She lays there, not touching it. In truth, she wasn't tired, but overwhelmed. She was about to meet PITCH BLACK! She was excited, for sure. But she was worried, worried he wouldn't give her a chance. _Of course he won't, he won't give anyone a chance._ The moon says into her head.

Alexis was furious, but she didn't need the moon to know, it would rile him up more. She didn't want to listen to him, so she ignored him. She rolls onto her side, burrowing her head into the soft blankets. It turns out that when everything was washed, it was good new. She remembered being relieved about not having to buy new things. Especially if she was only staying for a while.

The song keeps going on. _**Nothing scares me anymore. 2, 3, 4.**_ She grabs her phone from the broken dresser, which she sadly couldn't fix.A red and yellow button appears on the screen. She groans, should she go back to sleep or face the music? She hits snooze. '_I need my beauty sleep.' _she jokes with herself. But suddenly the door opens.

A man with grey-ish skin, a robe, and a furious expression was there. In the door way was Pitch Black. Alexis had to keep down her excitement bottled inside. This was so exciting. But she manages to keep a neutral face. "What the infernal..." he starts, but see's Alexis. "What are YOU doing here?" he basically spits out, venom coating his words.

"Sleeping." she replies, barely opening her eyes. He narrows his eyes, a sinister look on his face. Pitch was waiting for her to go screaming, but she says something like that to him. He was the Boogeyman, people should be afraid of him. He turns red.

"What are you doing sleeping here? And what did you do to this room?" Pitch asks, looking around. Everything looked the same as when he first got the bedroom suite. It was a thousand or so years ago. But, the thing that caught his eyes was the purple and yellow paint covering the walls. No cobwebs could be seen.

"Well one, I can't tell you. And two, I fixed it up. Doesn't it look awesome?" Alexis shouts. She smiles, she was actually really happy with her work. She was only able to afford two colors, though. She painted it purple, then splattered yellow everywhere.

Pitch winces. "No, it does not look 'awesome.' And can you please stop screaming or talking period. Your voice is really high pitched." he yells at her. Hurt crosses her face, but she quickly covers it with a grin.

"A lot of people say that. But, no. At least not in till you do." she bargains. She was giddy inside, she was having a conversation with PITCH BLACK.

Pitch snarls. "You can't tell me what to do! I am the Boogeyman, and your a little girl." he mocks.

"I am not a little girl!" she shouts, getting angry.

The Boogeyman smiles, finding her weak spot. "How old are you? Ten?" he asks. She turns red.

"Plus four, you bozo." she whispers the last part. But Pitch hears it.

"What did you call me?" he asks, this girl was getting on her nerves.

"A bozo. Let me spell it: B, O, Z, O." She replies with a grin, this was getting funny. All of a sudden little golden wisps come into the room. Each of them had a bag, or luggage. One hit Pitch in the head.

"What the darkness... What is dream sand doing here?" he almost shouts, ducking. Those things really hurt, especially if you were a fearling.

"Yippee! My stuff is here! Sandy said it would today." She says, hugging a bag to her. Pitch rolls his eyes.

"Who said you were staying here?" he asks, another bag hits his head. "And what all did you bring?" he asks, rubbing the spot where he was hit.

Alexis looks up over her bags, more still coming in. "Well one, Man in Moon said I could." she explains. Pitch growls, but she puts up a finger. " And two, I don't exactly travel light." then she spots her laptop. "My laptop!" she shouts.

"What the bloody... what laptop?" Pitch asks. Alexis looks to him.

"Well, really, my moms. I hope she won't miss it... But she hasn't fixed either of mine." she explains, looking up.

"No, what is a laptop?" he asks. Alexis looks at him glaring. Her lips are in a thin line. She covers her laptop.

"Don't you dare say that in front of the laptop." she shouts, then looks to it. "It's ok, he didn't mean it."

"That's an inanimate object." he says confused. Was this girl crazy?

"So." she shrugs, looking to her lap. Yep, she was crazy.

"Your nuts." Pitch mutters, mainly to himself. Alexis smiles.

"Actually, I prefer crazy. And my name isn't nuts, it's Alexis." she says, holding out her hand. Chipped red nail polish adorns her finger nails, and a cheap looking ring with an A.

"I would love to say it has been a pleasure, but..." he starts, hoping she would get the memo. She did, but stood oblivious towards it.

"Your going to let me stay?! Yay." she says, and she hurries to push him out. Before Pitch knows what is happening, he hears a click.

"Hey! That is not what I was going to say you brat! Let me in there." he says, banging on the door. Alexis shoves a chair up the locked door's handle just in case. Pitch remembers something, smiling. He thinks of the inside of the room. But gets a splitting headache instead. "Ouch." he murmurs.

"Turned on all the lights, bozo!" she yells threw the door. Pitch grits his teeth.

"Stop calling me that, you little brat!" he yells to her. Alexis giggles.

"It's Alexis, not Brat." she said. "I am not one of those Bratz dolls that have weird big heads." Pitch rolls his eyes, but in truth, doesn't know what she is talking about.

"Whatever, but you have to come out sometime." he says, walking away.

Once she knows he's gone, Alexis looks around, piles of bags are around her. She goes over to a red suit case. She had literally packed everything from her room. She unzips the bag, and clothes stare back at her. She loved to dress up for school, kinda. Most days when she woke up she was really tired. What she really loved was shoes, they were her favorite accessory. She turns to another bag, which was just a black trash bag. Smiling, she opens it and sees her shoes.

She picks up her favorites, her heels. They actually made her look taller, because she was shorter than everyone else she knew. Another trash bag, which was white, had hangers. A cardboard box held her fragiles. She takes scissors and rips it open. She smiles as she unpacks everything.

* * *

The guardians were soaring through the skies. Truth be told, they were worried about the girl. Only once before did a girl or boy made it past the first day. And Sandy didn't think to tell them in till that first day. Tooth was zipping through the air, Jack was surfing on his staff, Sandy flying like superman, And Bunny had unwillingly rode with North in his sled.

Then they landed in Burgess, it was snowing. No doubt Jack's doing. They all look around while running towards the hole. They all looked under tree roots, in bushes, beds, but found nothing. That is, in till they noticed Sandy had been trying to grab their attention for a half an hour. Of course he knew where it was, he brought her here.

"What I don't understand, Sanderson, is why you took her here." Tooth scolds, still mad at Sandy. Therefore resulting to his full name. He puts a sandy picture of the moon above his head. Tooth rolls her eyes, then looks to the moon.

"I guess it was for the best. Maybe she is really naughty." Tooth tried, but that was still no reason for sending her here. Sandy, getting tired of this, points to the hole. They all look down. In the dirt was a small hole, just big enough for someone petite-ish. Like Tooth. Bunny comes forward, and starts digging, revealing a bigger hole.

"After you, Sheila. ladies first." he says, pointing to Toothiana. She scoffs.

"Scaredy Bunny." she mutters, flying down into the hole. In general, she was scared to. Jack sighs and follows her, following by the others. The first thing they notice is that it is dark, like pitch black, pun intended. Sandy brings up his sand, lighting a little of the room.

"Guardians." a dark voice says, they all turn around. Jack shoots ice at the noise. "Calm down, I won't hurt you. Yet." He murmurs the last part.

Jack laughs, still holding up his staff. "Not that I'm complain, but why the sudden niceness." he asks, standing in front of Tooth.

Pitch laughs, coming out of his shadows. " Actually, I want your help." he admits, frowning.

Jack and the others look taken aback. "With what?" Bunny asks, grabbing onto his boomerangs.

Pitch holds out his hands. "Getting a retched brat off my hands. Which is why I assume your here?" he asks.

"Yes, but not because of that." Bunny answers.

Pitch chuckles. "Afraid I had killed her? No, but one day she will drown with fear like the others." he says, a sadistic look in his eyes. North brings out his swords.

"Don't even v'ink of v'it, Pitch." he threatens, his swords glinting off the light from the sand.

" I wouldn't, yet. And Sanderson." he starts, looking to Sandy. "Please don't let those things go near me." Pitch says, flinching away from the light. Sandy brings them in closer.

"Take us to her, Pitch." Jack spits out in pure loathing. Pitch motions inside his caves.

"Right this way." he says. He leads them through the maze of caves. Past doorways and cobwebs. Past walls and walls, in till they reach 'her' room. They hear no sound inside. Jack goes up to it and goes to open it.

"It's locked..." The Boogeyman starts, but he is mistaken. Jack opens it with ease, but to find no Alexis. "Where the Dark did she go?" he asks, clutching his head. She could ruin his other rooms.

"I don't know, Pitch." Bunny says, turning towards Pitch. "But you better tell me where she is and why your room is purple."

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**Author's Note: I hope you liked this chapter, it was still a boring but necessary one, though. I hated to make Pitch bad in this chapter, but also a necessity in till he gets used to everyone and Alexis helping him. Review! Remember, it makes my heart smile. (:3**


	4. Chapter 3: Still Day 2

_May we not succumb to thoughts of violence and revenge today, but rather to thoughts of mercy and compassion. We are to love our enemies that they might be returned to their right minds._ _-Marianne Williamson_

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**Reviews:**

**Mystichawk **Thanks, that means a lot. :)

* * *

Little did they know, Alexis was just looking around. Nothing that interesting. A few little baby tiny waterfalls from the water seeping into the ground, nothing to get excited about. Bugs she had never seen before. Spiders, ugh. She was bored, and she realized she was lost. _'Which cave did I come from in?' _She wasn't afraid, and didn't need nor want to be. She didn't need Pitch to find her yet. She needed time to think, he was in worse shape then she thought.

She wasn't sad at what he had said to her. Brat was a usual nickname, in fact. She smiles, plopping herself on a rock. She had been wondering for a long length of time. Though she wasn't good at time, she guessed about an hour or so. She knew Pitch wasn't bluffing when he said he was going to kick her out, she was even surprised he wasn't on the other side of the door.

Once her eyes get used to the darkness, a small glow comes from the side of a cave. As she looks closer, she sees a cave entrance. Alexis looks around for the other entrance, making sure this wasn't the same one. But she can't find it, but she shrugs. It's better getting even more lost then sitting around.

As she walks through it, the first thing she realizes is it was not the same place. But, it was a small, living room. It didn't have a TV or anything. It only had a small, leather, couch. A table, and a turn table. She smiles like a child on Christmas running to it. In till Pitch found her how about not having a bit of fun? Alexis looks beside the turn table at the records. Beethoven, Bach, nothing modern. She frowns, not that she didn't like classical music, but she didn't like to dance to it.

She looks at the turn table, at the side, on the top. Then she sees it, an AUX plug in. Getting out her phone, she plugs it in. Smiling, she starts dancing randomly.

* * *

"Where is she, Pitch?" Jack asks for the billionth time. Bunny rolls his eyes, but secretly wonders the same thing. It had been a full twenty minutes since her being gone.

"For the billionth time, frost. I. Don't. Know." Pitch finalizes, venom in his voice. But secretly, Pitch was worried. _'Why would I worry about a child?' _he asks himself. _'Probably because your afraid the guardians will beat you up?' _Even though it made him want to go into protest, he stuck with that though. It was better than worrying about the safe being of a child.

"Why can't you try tracking her fear? The little Sheila is probably lost and scared." Bunny suggests. He didn't want Pitch feeding off her fear, but they needed to get her out of here. Pitch rolls his eyes.

"If you want to do it the easy way." he snarls. He stops, thinking about her. Usually, it would only take a second to track a child down. But, it started taking longer. _'Probably from all her fear.' _ he thought. But secretly he was worrying, what if I couldn't sense her? Of course he could sense her, she was a child. Children had fear. Seconds turned to minutes, but Pitch couldn't give up.

"V'ell?" North asks, concern in his voice. Pitch gulps, not wanting to believe it.

"I can't find her fear, not a trace. It's like she doesn't even exist." he admits, letting his head fall in shame. Jack's face turns red.

"Not even here a day and she's already dead? Pitch, I knew you were low, but..." but Jack can't finish, because a clatter of glass sounds through the caves. Pitch's eyes widen.

"Was that my special..." he starts, but Tooth interrupts.

"I don't care if it's your special vibrator. You had better hope that was her." Tooth threatens, a glare in her eye. They all zoom through the caves, Pitch guiding them. That's when they see it.

A leather couch sits in the middle of the room, feathers coating it. Tooth gags. Pillow cases that match the sofa are thrown everywhere, loud music was playing.

_**I came in like a wrecking ball! **_

Suddenly, a girl runs and dives into the couch. "What the darkness?" Pitch screeches. The girl looks up, then her face turns into awe. In front of her was the guardians, and Pitch Black in one place. She goes to wave, but knocks over a picture frame.

"Wasn't me." she states, her voice really high pitched. Pitch's face turns tomato red.

"That was the first constitution!" he shouts. The guardians look at him.

"So your the person that stole that. Bunny, hand over the twenty." Jack says, offering out his hand. Pitch screws up his face in confusion. "Bunny thought it was the Groundhog."

Alexis looks sad. "Sorry." she says, but her face turns cheery again. The song on her phone turns loud again.

_**I never meant to start a war.**_

"What is that horrible music?" Pitch screeches. Alexis laughs.

"This is wonderful. How could you not like it?" she asks. Bunny smiles.

"She's just a cute little girl. What's your name?" Bunny asks. Pitch smiles, remembering when he had asked that. Alexis's face turns red.

"I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL!" she shouts. She goes over and stops on Bunny's foot.

"Ouch!" he says, clutching his foot. Jack laughs. "For a ten year old, she sure is strong." Bunny admits, kissing his foot. Alexis's jaw clenches.

"Plus four." she states. Then she looks to North. "Please say that doesn't count?" she asks him, afraid she had gotten on the naughty list. North laughs, waving his hand. Alexis smiles.

She looks at Bunny. "BTW, I now totally like Christmas better." she says. Everyone laughs but Pitch and Bunny.

Pitch was actually angry, she had given the Boogeyman a scare. Not for the furniture, which he wished was the case. But for her safety. He barely knew this girl, and he was scared for her. He couldn't explain it, he could tell he was still evil. But .01% of him was feeling for this girl. "How dare you leave your room! You almost gave me..." then he noticed what he was stating. What was wrong with him?

Even though Pitch couldn't see it, everyone especially Alexis saw this. A dark shadowy figure merges itself away from Pitch. Alexis, though many wouldn't have thought she would know this, knew what this thing was. It was one of the ten thousand fearlings locked inside of Pitch. The guardians look from the fearling to her. This girl actually got a fearling out of Pitch.

Maybe this girl didn't need their help. Maybe leaving her with Pitch was a good idea. Each of them look to each other, confirming with each other. The girl would stay, under their careful watch. "What?" Pitch asks. All of them shake their heads. Alexis smiles to herself. She knew what they were talking about, they were letting her stay. But in truth, hell would have to freeze over for her to go away from this. A deep part down inside of her actually thought she could help the infamous Pitch Black.

* * *

Alexis had snuck away from the guardians and Pitch. In truth, she didn't know what they were talking about. But she figured they weren't talking. Partially cause Pitch started following her. She pretends not to notice. She turns a corner, but Pitch still follows her, getting closer.

She turns to look at him, what he wanted. But when she turns he isn't there. She faces the front again to see Pitch. He grabs her and rises her up. "Look," he says, pure loathing in his voice. "you tell me why you have no fear. Who and what are you?" he asks, his eyes full of fire. She smiles. She secretly knew why, but it was something she never told anyone about.

"I don't know what your talking about. I don't have fear? Cool. Now you can't go under my bed at night." she says. She shivers. She had met Pitch before, but didn't actually know who he was at the time. She was always afraid of under her bed as a kid. She would have her mom carry her in, or take as little steps as she could. She never looked under it. One day, something grabbed her foot. But her mom had turned on the lights to say to get to bed.

Pitch snarls. "Look, I don't know who or what you are, or where you come form. But do know this, I will find out your fear. I will use it against you, then make sure you suffer." he says, dropping her to the ground. He disappears.

Apparently, one little fearling out of his system didn't work very long. And she had to get about ten thousand out of him before the month ends. She was afraid. She didn't want to be. She pushes her fear back, Pitch couldn't know why she was really here. And a fear that screams, 'Hey! I'm afraid I won't be able to help you.' Wouldn't help. Alexis sighs, entering her room. Not bothering to take off her clothes, she dives under the blankets and falls asleep.

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**Author's Note: I just finished a story, so I will hopefully be able to update this story more often. Please review!**


	5. Chapter 4: Day 3

**Hey! I loved writing this chapter. **

**Reviews:**

**Mystichawk **Yeah, in my story he stole LOTS of valuable artifacts. :)

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_The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend. ~Aristotle_

* * *

Pitch couldn't get it, why he cared for a child. Well, he wouldn't call it care, more like... he couldn't think of anything. It was a blank. He couldn't find reasons for caring for the girl and why he couldn't. He wanted so badly to be free from this state of mind. To be rid of the things he thought about, caring. He sighs in frustration.

He was walking now, to her bedroom. That awful music was playing. Something about a girl and her 'summertime sadness'. It was ridiculous. He didn't get why kids these days liked this modern music. Poems were better than this malarkey.

Pitch barges into the room, to see Alexis's head buried under her pillow. He walks right up to her and snatches the pillow.

"If your awake why aren't you turning it off?" he screeches, the awful music. Alexis turns over, her eyes wide open. They were bloodshot. He furrows his brows.

"Why don't you turn it off yourself." she replies, annoyance in her voice. Pitch sighs loudly and sprints over to her phone. It was bigger than his hand. He frantically pushes buttons.

"How do you turn the damn thing off?" he asks, getting annoyed. Alexis hmps and tosses over, pushing off the bed covers. All she had on was a cami and daisy dupe pajama pants.

"Gimee." she says, giving out her hand. Pitch throws it to her. "Be careful with her." she says, scolding him.

"Her?" he asks, dumbfounded. Alexis laughs.

"Yes, her. She has a name. Phonsie." she replies. Pitch looks at her oddly.

"Your crazy." he says, backing away.

"Thanks." she smiles. She rubs her eyes. Pitch looks at her in concern.

"Were you crying?" he asks. He was worrying about a child again. Alexis turns red.

"No, I got something in my eye." she defends, standing up. Pitch narrows his eyes. "How about I say I left in my contacts and you leave me alone?" she bargains. Pitch nods.

Alexis starts to leave the room. Pitch grabs her. "And where do you think your doing?" he asks. She turns around.

"Something that you don't need to know. How about we play a game later after I'm done? It will be so much fun!" she shouts, exploding her hands to the sky. Pitch sighs. But before he answers she runs away.

* * *

Alexis couldn't tell Pitch were she was going, it would ruin everything. She had to find that fearling before it remerges itself back to Pitch. She couldn't leave. She had to be the one to set him free. She had to see the smile on his face to cover up his ad one in the movie. She couldn't let that fearling get back into him, it was bad enough she had to get rid of about 9,999 more.

Alexis had a jar with her, when she said she packed everything she meant everything. It was just an old Mason jar. One her grandma used for canning. She had put peanut butter at the bottom of the jar. They may like peanut butter. Rats liked peanut butter, and they were creepy. These fearlings were to.

She went back to the place she released it, the living room. No one had cleaned it up. Little feathers were littering the floor. The turn table tipped over.

The lights were off, figures. _'Maybe if I turn on the lights I will find him easier.' _she thought hopeful. She flicks on the lights to be accompanied by a shrieking. A shadowy figure is in the middle off the room, and boy was he peed off. It charged for her. Alexis shrieks rolling to the side. It flips over her head.

She lunges at the shadow but it disappears. She turns around expecting it to be there. she swings the jar.

Opening her closed eyes, Alexis sees a dark shadow in the jar, the fearling. She smiles in triumph. Locking the lid she hears footsteps. Footsteps so silent she almost can't hear them. Pitch. Alexis tucks the jar behind her back right as he steps into the room.

"I heard a screech. Please tell me your not doing that wretched Wrecking Ball thing." he pleads looking around.

"Nope. In fact, I was about to go find you. Lets play that game."

* * *

Pitch and Alexis were standing in her room. The closet doors were opened and lots of bags and clothes were everywhere.

"Why can't you just clean it up as you go?" he asks, getting annoyed by the mess.

"Because, if you make me clean now then I won't do a good ob. I have to have the will to clean. When I do everything has to be spotless." she explains in a duh like way. Pitch rolls his eyes. "Hey, do you have a TV?" she asks out of no where.

"Yes, a very old one though." he replies.

"Perfect." she says, puling out a Wii Fit Board.

"What the darkness is that?" he asks in interest. Alexis fakes shock.

"Why this is the handy dandy Wii Fit Board! It's for exercising, playing games, and much much more!" She shrieks. She also pulls out a white rectangle that started glowing blue.

"And that?" he asks.

"The handy dandy Wii." she replies, finding the old TV in the corner. She takes out the AV Jacks and starts plugging the in. Once that's done, she takes out a green disk and inserts it.

A familiar ding ding sounds. Alexis smiles taking out the Wii remote. "What's that?" Pitch asks like a little child. Alexis laughs, hoping a fearling will come out. Maybe doing nice things will trigger it. Nothing.

"It's the Mii station. It's where you make yourself." she explains. It was like playing with her annoying little sister.

"Can I make me?" he asks. Alexis turns red.

"I kinda already did that a few months ago." she replies in a monotone. Then she bursts out laughing at the awkwardness. A silence passes over them. "Awkward silence." she says. Pitch chuckles for a second, then catches himself. He snorts.

"Oh man. I have to make a new game for both of us." she says. She pulls up the new person column. She clicks on her person. A girl with short brown hair and black eyes. The shirt on her was purple.

"We'll do me first." she says. She was hoping to make him riled up in a kid-ish or happy-ish way.

"Why?" he asks. Yes, it was working. A dark shadow went over him. Just a little more.

"Since I've done it before and know what to do." she replies. Pitch pouts, then freezes. He needed to stop this childish manner. Seriously, what was wrong with him?

But Alexis noticed him arguing with himself, but it was too late. The fearling rises up, it was a little bigger than the other one. She swipes the jar from under her bed and captures it. It starts nibbling on the peanut butter. That was a little to easy.

She tosses it under the bed and picks back up the Wii remote. The first thing that comes up I her weight. Easy. The next one is the weight of her clothes. Under one pound. The next one I her height. She frowns.

"Hey, Pitch. Do you know your height?" she asks. He shakes his head. "I don't know mine either. We'll have to get a measuring tape." she says, getting up.

"Ok. Get your money and we'll go." he says. Alexis frowns for a second, then smiles. She gets something and puts it in her purse.

"I don't have money." she says sweetly. Pitch sighs, rolling his eyes.

"All I have is German money from the late 50's." he says. Alexis smiles.

"That will do, lets go!" she screams, grabbing Pitch.

* * *

So here they were, in front of a bank. "I don't see what we are doing." Pitch admits.

"Well" she says, grabbing something form her purse. "were going to either a) rob the bank with your no one can see you, no offense, power. or b) put on these moustaches and pretend to be from Germany." she finishes. Pitch stares at her for a second.

"Gosh, your nuts." he says finally. She frowns.

"Can I be an almond instead. I promise you can be a walnut." she asks. He just nods.

"Which one is less embarrassing?" he asks.

"Well, since no one can see you, no offense, neither is embarrassing." she says. "But I want to do the moustache." she squeals. He just nods.

"Lets. Get. Some. Money!" she screams, placing a purple moustache on and giving Pitch a yellow. He sighs defeated. Alexis smiles, busting open the door.

She walks in, everyone looks to them, her. Even though they couldn't see Pitch, he was really embarrassed. Alexis goes up to a random desk, taking out the German money. "Me and me friend here want to trade in our German money for our American dollars." she explained in a really bad accent. Pitch smacks himself.

The clerk looks at her like she's crazy. The guy snaps his fingers and guys come out. They pick her up as she fights and kicks. They throw her out and Pitch starts laughing. She looks at him, no glares. Then she goes up and rips off his moustache. "Ow!" he shouts, clutching his moustache area.

"Time for plan B." Alexis says evilly. Pitch looks scared for a moment. Then she turns to Pitch. "Tie for you to rob a bank." she says.

"Ok. Fine. It's not like I have humanity or whatever." he says, shrugging his shoulders. Alexis smiles, reaching into her purse.

"Here, take this envelope. Set it in the vault you take from." she says, handing a manila envelope to him. He nods.

"Is it like a ransom note, a letter confirming we stole it?" Pitch asks eagerly.

"Something like that." Alexis replies, smiling. He nods, taking it.

"Ok, how much are we stealing?" Pitch asks, almost jumping up and down.

" Ten dollars." she replies, Pitch pouts.

"Fine." Then he disappears inside.

* * *

Pitch looks up, staring at the blue sign. Wal-Mart? How was this town big enough to get a Wal-Mart? By the way, I hate Wal-Mart." Pitch says, pouting. Alexis sighs.

"I do to, but I don't have a Sam's card." Alexis admits. Then mutters something like, _Dumb sales clerks._

"Sam's? How is this town big enough to have a Sam's and Wal-Mart?" he shouts, earning glances and frightened faces from children.

Alexis shrugs. "Don't know, why don't you try asking them?" she asks, getting board. They head in, the grocery end. But when Alexis doesn't turn to the hardware, he gets confused.

"Uh, hardware is that way." he says, pointing to a sign.

"I know." she replies, turning into an aisle. It was the aisle with granola bars and junk like that. She goes right up to the fruit rolls. "Here it is!" she screams, shoving a box into Pitch's face.

"Foot-by-the-foot's?" he asks. "But that's a fruit snack!" he yells.

Alexis rolls her eyes. "Would you rather have a measuring tape that you can't eat or one that tells you your size in feet and is crazy delicious?!" she asks.

"Whatever." Pitch says. They start walking away when Alexis screams.

"Ahh!" she screams, dropping the box and running to a bigger one. She holds it to the air.

"Three pack with fruit roles, gushers, and foot-by-the-foots!" she screams. Pitch sighs, rolling his eyes. He drags her to the checkout, when she sees a bug vacuum. Now, usually she wouldn't be so excited. But she thought it would make catching fearlings easier. She screams, handing it to Pitch. "Take this outside, Pitch. That thing isn't worth fifteen bucks, so I'll pay them a little extra for this." She says. She pays for it and they go back to the cave.

* * *

They were back at the city, Pitch was livid. "Well how was I supposed to know that Foot-by-the-foots weren't really a foot?" she screams to him. Pitch reddens.

"Probably about you eating a whole box before realizing it!" He shouts back.

"Hey! You ate some to" she shouts back. Pitch turns red. They are walking across the street.

"Where are we going now?" he asks, hoping it isn't Wal-Mart again.

"Subway." she replies happily.

"I thought we were going to the hardware store. Don't tell me your still hungry." he begs. Alexis shakes her head.

"But I am. Were getting another edible measurement tape." she says with excitement. Pitch sighs. They walk into Subway, sandwiches filling the air with their smell.

"One foot-long pizza sub on Italian herbs and cheese, a chocolate chip cookie, and a blue PowerAde for me. And a..." she stops, turning to me. The sales clerk looks at her funny. " Pitch, what do you want?" she asks.

"As garden salad." he replies, looking away. Alexis rolls her eyes.

"Another order of the same thing." she replies.

"Hey!" Pitch yells. Alexis turns around to face him.

"You need to stop filling yourself with healthy things and fill up on fat filled stuff!" she yells back to him. The sales clerk reaches for a phone, but without turning, Alexis puts a finger. "Call an asylum and get me put into one of thos e ugly straight jackets and it will be the last thing you do." she threatens, the sales clerk backs off. While there waiting, Alexis suddenly jumps up and sings. She puts out one hand with all five fingers up.

"Five dollar. Five dollar foot long." everyone just looks at her weirdly.

The cooks hands them her and Pitch's sandwich. But she hands both orders to Alexis. She frowns. "Pitch is on the other side ma'am. I can promise you he is not sitting on my lap." she says, not looking up. The cook shakes her head and runs off. Alexis eats her sandwich in seconds. Pitch starts to eat his, and the workers and customers watch a sandwich turn invisible.

"Great, we ate the last edible tape measurers I can think of." Alexis grumbles, forgetting to measure herself before eating. "How about we don't play today?" she asks, bored of this.

Pitch shakes his head, agreeing. "Agreed." Suddenly, police sirens sound outside. Alexis pales. "Oh, gosh. Your in trouble." Pitch taunts. Alexis frowns, standing up holding her cookie.

"Run?" she asks. Pitch nods. They laugh like maniacs, like little children. When a big fearling escapes from Pitch. That one had to equal like a hundred. She panics, picking up thee vacuum from her bag. She sucks it up and it actually works. She high fives herself, but Pitch sees.

"What are you doing?" he asks, getting suspicious.

She quickly changes the subject. "Hey, can't we use your shadow thingy?" she asks. Pitch face-palms. He grabs Alexis and they vanish to his lair.

"You know, I don't know why they were chasing us." she starts. Pitch stares at her.

"We robbed a bank, Alexis!" he shouts.

"Not really." she says, shaking her head.

Pitch furrows his brows. "What do you mean?" he asks.

"Well, that envelope?" she asks. Pitch nods. "It had ten bucks in it." she admits.

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**Sorry it wasn't in that much detail. But it was a long chapter, and I wanted to get this chapter done before it turned into days. Then months, then years before I updated. But this story gets a reward for this being the longest chapter I ever wrote! Review, Please?**


	6. Chapter 5: Day 4

**Sorry this one is short. I am really busy. Why? **

_**Majorly Important!**_

**Today is the day that Percy Jackson: House of Hades came out! I have waited all year for this! I was kinda mad when he threw Percy and Annabeth into Tartarus, but I got the book and I am going to read it after this is updated. For anyone who didn't know it came out today, it came out today! Fangirl scream.**

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**Reviews:**

**koryandrs**

**Mystichawk**

**darthcat**

**Thanks!**

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_You name the demonstration; I was at it.  
-Susie Bright_

* * *

Alexis was up, and it was five o'clock in the morning. In truth, she couldn't sleep. It wasn't nervousness, or fear. But excitement. She was wondering all morning what could have made Pitch so happy yesterday all of a sudden, and she got it. It may not be the perfect formula, but it worked for now.

He hasn't been nice, no offense, to people or anything for over a millennia. If at least the tiniest hint of fear exited his system, it was like withdraw. Like the first time a smoker of like twenty years did one day without it, he would go crazy from withdraw.

And what helped was that Pitch came into her bedroom griping.

"I have got the worst migraine I have had in centuries. What happened last night?" he asks, Alexis smiles.

"Trust me when I say this, you don't want to know." She says in mock seriousness. Pitch looks up to her.

"You better tell me, girl. Your lucky I haven't killed you yet." He growls. Yep, that's more like Pitch.

"Well," she starts, letting the 'well' roll out. "I will put this lightly. You raped a girl and she is pregnant with your child." She finishes, trying to stay serious. His head snaps up.

"WHAT!?" he yells. Alexis doubles over laughing. Then Pitch frowns.

"Wait, it takes at least four weeks to find out your pregnant." He states. Alexis grins.

"Ok, so we got two edible measuring tapes and ate them. The cops chased after us. We 'robbed' a bank. But not really. Then I told you and you went all over me. You were pissed." She says.

"Ok. Now the truth." He says. Alexis shrugs.

"It's the honest to god truth." She says. Pitch just rolls his eyes. Then Alexis gets up and out of the door.

"Where are you going?" Pitch yells. Even though he wanted the girl out, he kinda didn't like her out of his sight.

"None of your beeswax, Pitch!" she yells back. But in truth, Pitch couldn't know where she was going. Because she was going to the guardians.

Alexis was at North's place. And how she got there? She found a little bit of Sandy's sand lost in Pitch's caves and used it to contact Sandy. Now she was here with all of the guardian's.

"We have very important jobs, girl. We don't have time for this!" Bunny says, starting off the meeting. Alexis rolls her eyes.

"Well then, you oversized jellyfish. Go hop along while we talk about big people stuff." Alexis states, not liking his attitude. Jack bursts out laughing.

"Now, I am here to talk about Pitch's development. I made a chart." She says, getting one out. She sets it up. It has a line like a regular graph. Then several pictures around it. "Now," she says, getting out a stick to point with. " This is his development. "

"Why was it really high and go back down really low?" Bunny asks.

"Well, I am glad you decided to join the big people's. Yesterday, Pitch went through what I like to consider a fearling withdraw." She flips over the chart to show another one.

"Where he hasn't been in the least bit nice in the last millennium, no offense to him, he suffered a withdraw and it kinda made him slap happy crazy." She explains. North raises an eyebrow.

"V'hat did you do?" North asks. Alexis laughs.

"I will spare you all the gory details, that is if there were any, and let's say we robbed but really didn't rob a bank and we sped away from cars. That was what resulted in the withdraw." Alexis concludes. Even Jack was shut up.

You have to tell me about that sometime!" Jack shouts. Alexis nods, then turns the chart over.

"Well, then we go down because Mr. Grouchy pants is back to is old self and is complaining about a migraine."

"Why are there drawings of sad things?" Tooth asks, pointing to the pictures of sad people. Alexis's eyes widen.

"Oh," she says, pointing to them. "Well, the sad dragon, people, and ice cream are a result of me finding out that I hate making charts and that they are boring." She says. Jack rolls his eyes.

"How are you sure it is v'orking?" North asks. Alexis raises an eyebrow. Then she lifts up a jar that was pitch black. Then another chart that has tear marks on it.

"This is what you would call fearlings." She explains. Everyone's eyes widen. "I have caught them. They exit Pitch sometimes when I can actually make him laugh or have a good time. And this is a chart of them all. This really big one is one I caught on his happy spree. I estimated it to be about a hundred fearlings."

"How can one be more than one?" Bunny asks.

"Well, I have discovered they are cannibals. They eat off of Pitch. But, sometimes they eat each other so they don't kill their host." She explains. Bunny's face turns to one of disgust.

"And these ones keep going lower. Resulting me to have caught about six hundred. And, from a secret source that you guys shouldn't know about, there are about ten thousand in his system." She explains.

"Why are there tears on this chart?" Jack asks.

"Because I was going to sleep when I realized you all would ask this question so I had to get my lazy arse out of bed and make another one. "she explains. "Then I got a paper cut."

The guardians eye her. They hate to admit it, but this chick was doing good. She had went farther where others couldn't.

"Can I stay for a while? I mean, with Pitch being meaner than usual nothing is going to make him in the least bit happy." She asks, batting her eyes. They all sigh.

"Sure." Jack finalizes. She jumps up and down.

"Yay!" she screams. "Let's go!" she says grabbing Jack's hand.

"So how do I do this again" she asks. She was kind of scared. This was her first time skiing. Jack laughs at her.

"You're scared!" he shouts. Alexis turns red.

"No I am not!' she shouts back. The hills rumble.

"Might want to be quiet. So be careful when you scream out of cowardice." He replies.

"I will not scream. I am not afraid." And with that she pushes off. She holds her eyes closed the whole time. When she made it to the bottom Jack laughed.

"You can open your eyes now." He chuckles. Alexis carefully opens one eye. Then the other.

"Yay! I made it!" she yells. Then rumbling comes from behind her. Jack whistles.

"We may want to go. Unless, you want to die." He asks, but doesn't let her finish. He picked her up and flew away.

"Hey! I could have gotten out of that myself!" she shouts. Jack eyes her.

"Oh, really?" he asks.

"Maybe?" she replies. Jack laughs.

"We should take you back to Pitch." He replies, rubbing his neck.

"Ok. Fair enough." She answers. Jack was a great friend. "But we have to do that again sometime!" Jack smiles.

"Sure." And with that he flew away. Alexis goes to her room and falls asleep.

* * *

**Review! Sorry again for it being short!**


	7. Chapter 6: Day 5

Sorry it took me so long. I'm really busy because I am moving.

Sorry the story itself that is actually mine is short. The majority of this chapter is a story that isn't mine. But, I thought I should put it in here. This is more of a filler chapter than a plot chapter. WARNING: This chapter is not for the faint hearted, the Stephen king part that is. If you don't like scary stuff then don't read it. Don't get mad at me if you do though.

Reviews

koryandrs: thanks

Mystichawk: who does she remind you of? I'm a nosy person. :)

takininja13: I won't stop this story anytime soon.

witty kitty: Sorry, read the author's note.

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?

-Nhat Hanh

Disclaimer: (I always forget these...) Rise of the Guardians belongs to DreamWorks and 'The Boogeyman' is Stephen King's. I am smart, I think, but not that smart.

Pitch was going to his library. It was morning, and he did not feel like seeing Alexis. He was actually secretly hoping she was gone. But he was wrong. He walks into the library to see Alexis sitting in his favorite seat. He suddenly grew angry. It was bad enough he had a migraine and couldn't remember the day before, she was also invading his personal privacy.

He quickly hides in the shadows, to watch her. She got up and sat a book down. He leaned over to look at it: 'Captive in the dark by C.J. Roberts.' He frowns, he didn't really like that book. It was ok, so he kept it on one of his many shelves. Alexis goes over to the ladder and climbs, going up to a shelf where a lot of books were strung everywhere. Pitch grits his teeth.

Alexis suddenly laughs real loud. "No way!" she shouts. What in blazes? "I don't believe it..." she continues while climbing back down. A big evil grin was on her face and for a second, _Pitch _was scared. He quickly pushed it aside though.

"Who would have thought Pitch would have something like this?" she asks herself. 'Couldn't believe Pitch had what?' he thought. "Mom would be peed off if she knew I was reading this... she will never know." she continues to talk to herself. She opens it up. Pitch goes over her to read it and almost dies: 'Fifty Shades of Grey.'

That's when he remembers, he tried something new last year. He regretted it now, but it was kind of interesting. The fear that could have been rolling off Anastasia in waves but the images overruled the fear. He winces. Alexis looks up.

"Pitch?" she asks, looking around. He felt like dying inside. She would no doubt tell the guardians; he would be ruined.

"Yes?" he quietly asks back. He wanted to go dig a hole and die in it. Alexis starts laughing.

"I can't believe you have this book! It just seems...not you?" she asks in a joking manner. Pitch's face would be red if it was slightly possible.

"Well... think of it this way. The fear that is rolling off Anastasia..." Pitch starts, but is interrupted.

"Or you read it because your needs haven't been fulfilled for a while." she finishes for him. He would definitely be red faced now.

"That's not it at all!" he shouts. Alexis laughs really loud.

'Whatever, Pitch." she says, rolling her eyes. Pitch just slaps himself. He was getting really tired of her. "But, I will magically forget it." she offered. He frowns.

"And why would you do that?" he asks, getting concerned. He was scared of what she would say. She shrugs.

"Your my friend. I wouldn't tell or 'remember' if I was your friend." she says. Of all the things she could have said, he didn't think she would say that. He snarls.

"I am not your friend." he says. Pitch felt a warm feeling inside of him for a moment. He quickly dismissed it. Alexis's face shows hurt, but then it goes away. And for a moment, Pitch feels sorry. He tries to cheer her up, not knowing what he is doing.

"How about we read together? I would love to have someone actually discuss a book with me." he offers. He then realizes what he was doing. Though he doesn't say anything, deep down, he wanted her to be happy. He felt disgusted with himself.

"Sure!" she shouts. Her smile was really big. He couldn't hurt her feelings. 'Yes you should.' A part of him said. But, a more powering part of him said he should let her be happy, for now. He half smiles.

"Well, what do you want to read?" he asks. She ponders for a second, then puts up a finger. Alexis runs off out the door, and comes back with something. It had leather on it, and it was yellow. "What is that?" Pitch asks {pointing at it as if it were going to jump us and consume him}. She opens it up to a screen, then flicks it.

"A Kindle." she replies, flicking more stuff. She scrolls through what looks like books and lands on one called _'Night Shift _by Stephen King'.

"You like Stephen King?" he asks, shocked. She shrugs.

"Not really. A few things, he doesn't make it scary enough." she admits. Pitch frowns; how come he couldn't feel her fear then? "But, I like one particular story in here," she continues. She goes to the index and pushes a story, "The Boogeyman." Pitch face palms.

"Seriously?" he asks. He had never read this, but as she started reading, he remembered.

'I came to you because I want to tell my story,' the man on Dr Harper's couch was saying. The man was Lester Billings from Waterbury, Connecticut. According to the history taken from Nurse Vickers, he was twenty-eight, employed by an industrial firm in New York, divorced, and the father of three children. All deceased.

'I can't go to a priest because I'm not a Catholic. I can't go to a lawyer because I haven't done anything to consult a lawyer about. All I did was kill my kids. One at a time. Killed them all.'

Dr Harper turned on the tape recorder.

Billings lay straight as a yardstick on the couch, not giving it an inch of himself. His feet protruded stiffly over the end. Picture of a man enduring necessary humiliation. His hands were folded corpse-like on his chest. His face was carefully set. He looked at the plain white composition ceiling as if seeing scenes and pictures played out there.

'Do you mean you actually killed them, or -'

'No.' Impatient flick of the hand. 'But I was responsible. Denny in 1967. Shirl in 1971. And Andy this year...I want to tell you about it.'

Dr Harper said nothing. He thought that Billings looked haggard and old. His hair was thinning, his complexion sallow. His eyes held all the miserable secrets of whisky.

'They were murdered, see? Only no one believes that. If they would, things would be all right.'

'Why is that?'

'Because..."

Billings broke off and darted up on his elbows, staring across the room. 'What's that?' he barked. His eyes had narrowed to black slits.

'What's what?'

'That door.'

'The closet,' Dr Harper said. 'Where I hang my coat and leave my overshoes.'

'Open it. I want to see.'

Dr Harper got up wordlessly, crossed the room, and opened the closet. Inside, a tan raincoat hung on one of four or five hangers. Beneath that was a pair of shiny goloshes. The New York Times had been carefully tucked into one of them. That was all.

'All right?' Dr Harper said.

'All right.' Billings removed the props of his elbows and returned to his previous position.

'You were saying,' Dr Harper said as he went back to his chair, 'that if the murder of your three children could be proved, all your troubles would be over. Why is that?'

'I'd go to jail,' Billings said immediately. 'For life. And you can see into all the rooms in a jail. All the rooms.' He smiled at nothing.

'How were your children murdered?'

'Don't try to jerk it out of me!'

Billings twitched around and stared balefully at Harper.

'I'll tell you, don't worry. I'm not one of your freaks strutting around and pretending to be Napoleon or explaining that I got hooked on heroin because my mother didn't love me. I know you won't believe me. I don't care. It doesn't matter. Just to tell will be enough.'

'All right.' Dr Harper got out his pipe.

'I married Rita in 1965 - I was twenty-one and she was eighteen. She was pregnant. That was Denny.' His lips twisted in a rubbery, frightening grin that was gone in a wink. 'I had to leave college and get a job, but I didn't mind. I loved both of them. We were very happy.

'Rita got pregnant just a little while after Denny was born, and Shirl came along in December of 1966. Andy came in the summer of 1969, and Denny was already dead by then. Andy was an accident. That's what Rita said. She said sometimes that birth-control stuff doesn't work. I think that it was more than an accident. Children tie a man down, you know. Women like that, especially when the man is brighter than they. Don't you find that's true?'

Harper grunted non-commitally.

'It doesn't matter, though. I loved him anyway.' He said it almost vengefully, as if he had loved the child to spite his wife.

'Who killed the children?' Harper asked.

'The boogeyman,' Lester Billings answered immediately. 'The boogeyman killed them all. Just came out of the closet and killed them.' He twisted around and grinned. 'You think I'm crazy, all right. It's written all over you. But I don't care. All I want to do is tell you and then get lost.'

'I'm listening,' Harper said.

'It started when Denny was almost two and Shirl was just an infant. He started crying when Rita put him to bed. We had a two-bedroom place, see. Shirl slept in a crib in our room. At first I thought he was crying because he didn't have a bottle to take to bed any more. Rita said don't make an issue of it, let it go, let him have it and he'll drop it on his own. But that's the way kids start off bad. You get permissive with them, spoil them. Then they break your heart. Get some girl knocked up, you know, or start shooting dope. Or they get to be sissies. Can you imagine waking up some morning and finding your kid - your son - is a sissy?

'After a while, though, when he didn't stop, I started putting him to bed myself. And if he didn't stop crying I'd give him a whack. Then Rita said he was saying "light" over and over again. Well, I didn't know. Kids that little, how can you tell what they're saying. Only a mother can tell.

'Rita wanted to put in a nightlight. One of those wall-plug things with Mickey Mouse or Huckleberry Hound or something on it. I wouldn't let her. If a kid doesn't get over being afraid of the dark when he's little, he never gets over it.

'Anyway, he died the summer after Shirl was born. I put him to bed that night and he started to cry right off. I heard what he said that time. He pointed right at the closet when he said it. "Boogeyman," the kid says. "Boogeyman, Daddy."

'I turned off the light and went into our room and asked Rita why she wanted to teach the kid a word like that. I was tempted to slap her around a little, but I didn't. She said she never taught him to say that. I called her a goddamn liar.

'That was a bad summer for me, see. The only job I could get was loading Pepsi-Cola trucks in a warehouse, and I was tired all the time. Shirl would wake up and cry every night and Rita would pick her up and sniffle. I tell you, sometimes I felt like throwing them both out a window. Christ, kids drive you crazy sometimes. You could kill them.

'Well, the kid woke me at three in the morning, right on schedule. I went to the bathroom, only a quarter awake, you know, and Rita asked me if I'd check on Denny. I told her to do it herself and went back to bed. I was almost asleep when she started to scream.

'I got up and went in. The kid was dead on his back. Just as white as flour except for where the blood had. . . had sunk. Back of the legs, the head, the a-the buttocks. His eyes were open. That was the worst, you know. Wide open and glassy, like the eyes you see on a moosehead some guy put over his mantel. Like pictures you see of those gook kids over in Nam. But an American kid shouldn't look like that. Dead on his back. Wearing diapers and rubber pants because he'd been wetting himself again the last couple of weeks. Awful, I loved that kid.'

Billings shook his head slowly, then offered the rubbery, frightening grin again. 'Rita was screaming her head off.

She tried to pick Denny up and rock him, but I wouldn't let her. The cops don't like you to touch any of the evidence. I know that -'

'Did you know it was the boogeyman then?' Harper asked quietly.

'Oh, no. Not then. But I did see one thing. It didn't mean anything to me then, but my mind stored it away.'

'What was that?'

'The closet door was open. Not much. Just a crack. But I knew I left it shut, see. There's dry-cleaning bags in there. A kid messes around with one of those and bango. Asphyxiation. You know that?'

'Yes. What happened then?'

Billings shrugged. 'We planted him.' He looked morbidly at his hands, which had thrown dirt on three tiny coffins.

'Was there an inquest?'

'Sure.' Billings's eyes flashed with sardonic brilliance.

'So me back-country fuckhead with a stethoscope and a black bag full of Junior Mints and a sheepskin from some cow college. Crib death, he called it! You ever hear such a pile of yellow manure? The kid was three years old!'

'Crib death is most common during the first year,' Harper said carefully, 'but that diagnosis has gone on death certificates for children up to age five for want of a better -'

'Bulishit!' Billings spat out violently.

Harper relit his pipe.

We moved Shirl into Denny's old room a month after the funeral. Rita fought it tooth and nail, but I had the last word. It hurt me, of course it did. Jesus, I loved having the kid in with us. But you can't get overprotective. You make a kid a cripple that way. When I was a kid my mom used to take me to the beach and then scream herself hoarse. "Don't go out so far! Don't go there! It's got an undertow! You only ate an hour ago! Don't go over your head!" Even to watch out for sharks before God. So what happens? I can't even go near the water now. It's the truth. I get the cramps if I go near a beach. Rita got me to take her and the kids to Savin Rock once when Denny was alive. I got sick as a dog. I know, see? You can't overprotect kids. And you can't coddle yourself either. Life goes on. Shirl went right into Denny's crib. We sent the old mattress to the dump, though. I didn't want my girl to get any germs.

'So a year goes by. And one night when I'm putting Shirl into her crib she starts to yowl and scream and cry. "Boogeyman, Daddy, boogeyman, boogeyman!"

'That threw a jump into me. It was just like Denny. And I started to remember about that closet door, open just a crack when we found him. I wanted to take her into our room for the night.'

'Did you?'

'No.' Billings regarded his hands and his face twitched. 'How could I go to Rita and admit I was wrong? I had to be strong. She was always such a jellyfish. . . look how easy she went to bed with me when we weren't married.'

Harper said, 'On the other hand, look how easily you went to bed with her.'

Billings froze in the act of rearranging his hands and slowly turned his head to look at Harper. 'Are you trying to be a wise guy?'

'No, indeed,' Harper said.

'Then let me tell it my way,' Billings snapped. 'I came here to get this off my chest. To tell my story. I'm not going to talk about my sex life, if that's what you expect. Rita and I had a very normal sex life, with none of that dirty stuff. I know it gives some people a charge to talk about that, but I'm not one of them.'

'Okay,' Harper said.

'Okay,' Billings echoed with uneasy arrogance. He seemed to have lost the thread of his thought, and his eyes wandered uneasily to the closet door, which was firmly shut.

'Would you like that open?' Harper asked.

'No!' Billings said quickly. He gave a nervous little laugh. 'What do I want to look at your overshoes for?

'The boogeyman got her, too,' Billings said. He brushed at his forehead, as if sketching memories. 'A month later. But something happened before that. I heard a noise in there one night. And then she screamed. I opened the door real quick - the hall light was on - and. . . she was sitting up in the crib crying and. . . something moved. Back in the shadows, by the closet. Something slithered.'

'Was the closet door open?'

'A little. Just a crack.' Billings licked his lips. 'Shirl was screaming about the boogeyman. And something else that sounded like "claws". Only she said "craws", you know. Little kids have trouble with that 'L' sound. Rita ran upstairs and asked what the matter was. I said she got scared by the shadows of the branches moving on the ceiling.'

'Crawset?' Harper said.

'Huh?'

'Crawset . . . closet. Maybe she was trying to say "closet".'

'Maybe,' Billings said. 'Maybe that was it. But I don't think so, I think it was "claws".' His eyes began seeking the closet door again. 'Claws, long claws.' His voice had sunk to a whisper.

'Did you look in the closet?'

'Y-yes.' Billings's hands were laced tightly across his chest, laced tightly enough to show a white moon at each knuckle.

'Was there anything in there? Did you see the -'

'I didn't see anything!' Billings screamed suddenly. And the words poured out, as if a black cork had been pulled from the bottom of his soul: 'When she died I found her, see. And she was black. All black. She swallowed her own tongue and she was just as black as a nigger in a minstrel show and she was staring at me. Her eyes, they looked like those eyes you see on stuffed animals, all shiny and awful, like live marbles, and they were saying it got me, Daddy, you let it get me, you killed me, you helped it kill me.

His words trailed off. One single tear very large and silent, ran down the side of his cheek.

'It was a brain convulsion, see? Kids get those sometimes. A bad signal from the brain. They had an autopsy at Hartford Receiving and they told us she choked on her tongue from the convulsion. And I had to go home alone because they kept Rita under sedation. She was out of her mind. I had to go back to that house all alone, and I know a kid don't just get convulsions because their brain frigged up. You can scare a kid into convulsions. And I had to go back to the house where it was.'

He whispered, 'I slept on the couch. With the light on.,

'Did anything happen?'

'I had a dream,' Billings said. 'I was in a dark room and there was something I couldn't . . . couldn't quite see, in the closet. It made a noise... a squishy noise. It reminded me of a comic book I read when I was a kid. Tales from the Crypt, you remember that? Christ! They had a guy named Graham Ingles; he could draw every god-awful thing in the world - and some out of it. Anyway, in this story this woman drowned her husband, see? Put cement blocks on his feet and dropped him into a quarry. Only he came back. 'He was all rotted and black-green and the fish had eaten away one of his eyes and there was seaweed in his hair. He came back and killed her. And when I woke up in the middle of the night, I thought that would be leaning over me. With claws... long claws.'

Dr Harper looked at the digital clock inset into his desk. Lester Billings had been speaking for nearly half an hour. He said, 'When your wife came back home, what was her attitude towards you?'

'She still loved me,' Billings said with pride. 'She still wanted to do what I told her. That's the wife's place, right? This women's lib only makes sick people. The most important thing in life is for a person to know his place. His his.. .uh-'

'Station in life?'

'That's it!' Billings snapped his fingers. 'That's it exactly. And a wife should follow her husband. Oh, she was sort of colourless the first four or five months after - dragged around the house, didn't sing, didn't watch the TV, didn't laugh. I knew she'd get over it. When they're that little, you don't get so attached to them. After a while you have to go to the bureau drawer and look at a picture to even remember exactly what they looked like.

'She wanted another baby,' he added darkly. 'I told her it was a bad idea. Oh, not forever, but for a while. I told her it was a time for us to get over things and begin to enjoy each other. We never had a chance to do that before. If you wanted to go to a movie, you had to hassle around for a baby-sitter. You couldn't go into town to see the Mets unless her folks would take the kids, because my mom wouldn't have anything to do with us. Denny was born too soon after we were married, see? She said Rita was just a tramp, a common little corner-walker. Corner-walker is what my mom always called them. Isn't that a sketch? She sat me down once and told me diseases you can get if you went to a cor. . . to a prostitute. How your pri. . . your penis has just a little tiny sore on it one day and the next day it's rotting right off. She wouldn't even come to the wedding.'

Billings drummed his chest with his fingers.

'Rita's gynaecologist sold her on this thing called an IUD - interuterine device. Foolproof, the doctor said. He just sticks it up the woman's . . . her place, and that's it. If there's anything in there, the egg can't fertilize. You don't even know it's there.' He smiled at the ceiling with dark sweetness. 'No one knows if it's there or not. And next year she's pregnant again. Some foolproof.'

'No birth-control method is perfect,' Harper said. 'The pill is only ninety-eight per cent. The IUD may be ejected by cramps, strong menstrual flow, and, in exceptional cases, by evacuation.'

'Yeah. Or you can take it out.'

'That's possible.'

'So what's next? She's knitting little things, singing in the shower, and eating pickles like crazy. Sitting on my lap and saying things about how it must have been God's will. Piss.'

'The baby came at the end of the year after Shirl's death?'

'That's right. A boy. She named it Andrew Lester Billings. I didn't want anything to do with it, at least at first. My motto was she screwed up, so let her take care of it. I know how that sounds but you have to remember that I'd been through a lot.

'But I warmed up to him, you know it? He was the only one of the litter that looked like me, for one thing. Denny looked like his mother, and Shirl didn't look like anybody, except maybe my Grammy Ann. But Andy was the spitting image of me.

'I'd get to playing around with him in his playpen when I got home from work. He'd grab only my finger and smile and gurgle. Nine weeks old and the kid was grinning up at his old dad. You believe that?'

'Then one night, here I am coming out of a drugstore with a mobile to hang over the kid's crib. Me! Kids don't appreciate presents until they're old enough to say thank you, that was always my motto. But there I was, buying him silly crap and all at once I realize I love him the most of all. I had another job by then, a pretty good one, selling drill bits for Cluett and Sons. I did real well, and when Andy was one, we moved to Waterbury. The old place had too many bad memories.

'And too many closets.

'That next year was the best one for us. I'd give every finger on my right hand to have it back again. Oh, the war in Vietnam was still going on, and the hippies were still running around with no clothes on, and the niggers were yelling a lot, but none of that touched us. We were on a quiet street with nice neighbours. We were happy.' he summed up simply. 'I asked Rita once if she wasn't worried. You know, bad luck comes in threes and all that. She said not for us. She said Andy was special. She said God had drawn a ring around him.'

Billings looked morbidly at the ceiling.

'Last year wasn't so good. Something about the house changed. I started keeping my boots in the hall because I didn't like to open the closet door any more. I kept thinking: Well, what if it's in there? All crouched down and ready to spring the second I open the door? And I'd started thinking I could hear squishy noises, as if something black and green and wet was moving around in there just a little.

'Rita asked me if I was working too hard, and I started to snap at her, just like the old days. I got sick to my stomach leaving them alone to go to work, but I was glad to get out. God help me, I was glad to get out. I started to think, see, that it lost us for a while when we moved. It had to hunt around, slinking through the streets at night and maybe creeping in the sewers. Smelling for us. It took a year, but it found us. It's back. It wants Andy and it wants me. I started to think, maybe if you think of a thing long enough, and believe in it, it gets real. Maybe all the monsters we were scared of when we were kids, Frankenstein and Wolfman and Mummy, maybe they were real. Real enough to kill the kids that were supposed to have fallen into gravel pits or drowned in lakes or were just never found. Maybe...'

'Are you backing away from something, Mr Billings?'

Billings was silent for a long time - two minutes clicked off the digital clock. Then he said abruptly: 'Andy died in February. Rita wasn't there. She got a call from her father. Her mother had been in a car crash the day after New Year's and wasn't expected to live. She took a bus back that night.

'Her mother didn't die, but she was on the critical list for a long time - two months. I had a very good woman who stayed with Andy days, we kept house nights. And closet doors kept coming open.'

Billings licked his lips. 'The kid was sleeping in the room with me. It's funny, too. Rita asked me once when he was two if I wanted to move him into another room. Spock or one of those other quacks claims it's bad for kids to sleep with their parents, see? Supposed to give them traumas about sex and all that. But we never did it unless the kid was asleep. And I didn't want to move him. I was afraid to, after Denny and Shirl.'

'But you did move him, didn't you?' Dr Harper asked.

'Yeah,' Billings said. He smiled a sick, yellow smile. 'I did.'

Silence again. Billings wrestled with it.

'I had to!' he barked finally. 'I had to! It was all right when Rita was there, but when she was gone, it started to get bolder. It started . . .' He rolled his eyes at Harper and bared his teeth in a savage grin. 'Oh, you won't believe it. I know what you think, just another goofy for your casebook, I know that, but you weren't there, you lousy smug head-peeper.

'One night every door in the house blew wide open. One morning I got up and found a trail of mud and filth across the hall between the coat closet and the front door. Was it going out? Coming in? I don't know! Before Jesus, I just don't know! Records all scratched up and covered with slime, mirrors broken . . . and the sounds . . . the sounds...'

He ran a hand through his hair. 'You'd wake up at three in the morning and look into the dark and at first you'd say, "It's only the clock." But underneath it you could hear something moving in a stealthy way. But not too stealthy, because it wanted you to hear it. A slimy sliding sound like something from the kitchen drain. Or a clicking sound, like claws being dragged lightly over the staircase banister. And you'd close your eyes, knowing that hearing it was bad, but if you saw it...

'And always you'd be afraid that the noises might stop for a little while, and then there would be a laugh right over your face and breath of air like stale cabbage on your face, and then hands on your throat.'

Billings was pale and trembling.

'So I moved him. I knew it would go for him, see. Because he was weaker. And it did. That very first night he screamed in the middle of the night and finally, when I got up the cojones to go in, he was standing up in bed and screaming. "The boogeyman, Daddy. . . boogeyman. wanna go wif Daddy, go wif Daddy."'

Billings's voice had become a high treble, like a child's. His eyes seemed to fill his entire face; he almost seemed to shrink on the couch.

'But I couldn't,' the childish breaking treble continued, 'I couldn't. And an hour later there was a scream. An awful gurgling scream. And I knew how much I loved him because I ran, in, I didn't even turn on the light, I ran, ran, ran, oh, Jesus God Mary, it had him; it was shaking him, shaking him just like a terrier shakes a piece of cloth and I could see something with awful slumped shoulders and a scarecrow head and I could smell something like a dead mouse in a pop bottle and I heard...'

He trailed off, and then his voice clicked back into an adult range. 'I heard it when Andy's neck broke.' Billings's voice was cool and dead. 'It made a sound like ice cracking when you're skating on a country pond in winter.'

'Then what happened?'

'Oh, I ran,' Billings said in the same cool, dead voice. 'I went to an all-night diner. How's that for complete cowardice? Ran to an all-night diner and drank six cups of coffee. Then I went home. It was already dawn. I called the police even before I went upstairs. He was lying on the floor and staring at me. Accusing me. A tiny bit of blood had run out of one ear. Only a drop, really. And the closet door was open - but just a crack.'

The voice stopped. Harper looked at the digital clock. Fifty minutes had passed.

'Make an appointment with the nurse,' he said. 'In fact, several of them. Tuesdays and Thursdays?'

'I only came to tell my story,' Billings said. 'To get it off my chest. I lied to the police, see? Told them the kid must have tried to get out of his crib in the night and. . . they swallowed it. Course they did. That's just what it looked like. Accidental, like the others. But Rita knew. Rita finally. . . knew.'

He covered his eyes with his right arm and began to weep.

'Mr Billings, there is a great deal to talk about,' Dr Harper said after a pause. 'I believe we can remove some of the guilt you've been carrying, but first you have to want to get rid of it.'

'Don't you believe I do?' Billings cried, removing his arm from his eyes. They were red, raw, wounded.

'Not yet,' Harper said quietly. 'Tuesdays and Thursdays?'

After a long silence, Billings muttered, 'Goddamn shrink. All right. All right.'

'Make an appointment with the nurse, Mr Billings. And have a good day.'

Billings laughed emptily and walked out of the office quickly, without looking back.

The nurse's station was empty. A small sign on the desk blotter said: 'Back in a Minute.'

Billings turned and went back into the office. 'Doctor, your nurse is -'

The room was empty.

But the closet door was open. Just a crack.

'So nice,' the voice from the closet said. 'So nice.' The words sounded as if they might have come through a mouthful of rotted seaweed.

Billings stood rooted to the spot as the closet door swung open. He dimly felt warmth at his crotch as he wet himself.

'So nice,' the boogeyman said as it shambled out. It still held its Dr Harper mask in one rotted, spade-claw hand.

She finishes. She closes the app and looks to Pitch. He remembered that. It was hilarious.

"That's a true story, you know?" he asks her, turning. He was smiling. Pitch was feeling like himself again, and not the kind that felt sorry for children. Alexis looks at him in shock, then smiles.

"Cool! You really did that?" she asks. She was actually surprised. He nods.

"Yeah. But I wasn't green and slimy, or smelled like rotten... whatever." he says, scrunching his nose in disgust. "I am surprised you're ok with that." He admits. She laughs.

"That guy kinda diserved it. He dissed woman too much for my liking. But those kids didn't deserve it." she says, then frowns. Pitch shakes his head.

"It was how I was, how I am. It's my job, it was all I could do." he whispers the last part. Alexis quickly changes the subject.

"What happened after that?" she asks. Pitch frowns.

"What?" he asks.

"What happened after you came out of the closet?" she asks. Again.

"Oh. How about I write it down instead?" he asks. He wanted her to have it forever, even when she finally came to her senses and left. She nods. He spend the next hour or so writing the original story down and then adding his. "Here." he says. She takes it form him. "It's not in as much detail as King's but it is a story." he says. She starts to read it out loud.

"What do you want?" Billings asked, he was really scared. Pitch/boogeyman laughs at him.

"I wanted to say something before I do anything to you." the Boogeyman says. Billings nods. "You didn't deserve them, the kids. You never did. Dissing your wife and not really loving them. They are in a better place now, even if it wasn't my intention." he says.

"What... What are you going to do to me?" Billings asked. He was shaking real bad, he wanted it all to be a dream. "Are you going to kill me?" he asks. The boogeyman laughs.

"No, you get lower than death. You don't get death because you did something that death is too nice for. Instead, I will haunt you forever." he says. Then he disappears. Billings looks up. He suddenly felt something dark and twisted inside of him. He screams, it felt like he was being ripped open. That's when his whole soul felt trapped, like it could never feel hope again.

"You are now a fearling, welcome to the club." he says. And that's all Billings remembered before he had no control.

"Wow." Alexis finally says. "Is he still fearling?" she asks. Pitch nods, she smiles. "Can I see him?" Pitch laughs.

"I don't think so, for some reason he went into me," he responds. Alexis frowns, he might not know why that was, but she did.

"Thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it. When I have to leave, I will have a piece of this place with me." then she immediately shuts up, she didn't mean to say that last part. Pitch hides his hurt.

"What are friends for?" he asks. Alexis looks shocked. She looks up to him with an aw struck expression. Then she does something Pitch though she wouldn't do, she hugs him. Pitch is shocked for a moment, but finally hugs her back. He smiles. He didn't know what was going on, but he felt GOOD. For a second he didn't care. For a second. That's when it happened.

Alexis looked up and saw it by chance, a fearling detaching itself from Pitch. She smiles. She knew he would be nice a little longer because of it. And she was glad because for the first time in her life she felt wanted, without it being awkward. Alexis didn't want to let go of Pitch, so she decides to get it later. But, deep down, she could tell it was Billings. Maybe she thought that because he winked at her.

The fearling flew away, so she looked down. But, as she did, something caught her eyes. It was Pitch, he was different somehow. She frowns, then realizes it. One of his eyes, which was usually yellow and white resembling an eclipse, was now green. Pitch catches her staring.

"What?" he asks, she smiles. He didn't notice, she would have to get rid of all the mirrors out of this cave later. She felt all fuzzy inside.

"Nothing, Pitch." she says, and continues hugging him.

Tell me some filler chapters you guys would like so I don't run out. Please? Also, Pease REVIEW!


	8. Chapter 7: Day 6

Hey guys! I wanted to say, first of all, sorry to all the people that didn t like last chapter. I thought it was cute, but that s my opinion, I guess. Lots of you didn t like it because of the Stephen King story. Some of you even PMed me to tell me. I thought that meant you really didn t like it. Well, I thought it would be nice to include it because Pitch is the Boogeyman and it was about the Boogeyman. Anyway You guys probably won t like this chapter either.  
I was watching Warm Bodies for like the fiftieth time and I was watching how Julie was teaching R how to drive. I had to, guys. Enjoy!

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Reviews:  
darthcat Thank you!

Mystichawk I m sorry you didn t like the Stephen King part. What do you mean by all out, though?

Alexis woke up just like every day. But this time, she woke up hungry. Rubbing her eyes, she gets out of bed. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she stretches. A yawn escapes her mouth, but she wasn t tired. She stands up and goes to her food pile. Alexis knew deep down when she came here Pitch would probably not have any food. Her food pile was basically a pile on the floor of boxes of food she managed to take with her. Alexis crouches down and picks up a few boxes; they were empty. She shakes her head there were plenty more boxes. She shakes them all to find no food. No, no. Alexis was out of food.  
Shaking her head, she gets up. Pitch had to of had some somewhere. That s when she realized she wasn t in the library anymore. She strictly remembered falling asleep in the library. Pitch must have carried me in. She thought. Looking around the room, her eyes fall on to a pile of blankets on the corner. In the middle of those blankets was Pitch sprawled out onto them. His head was on the floor while the rest of his body was on the blanket. Pitch s arm was laid over his head. Alexis laughed, but not loud. The thing that made her laugh was Pitch was drooling. She takes out her phone and snaps a picture.  
Alexis tiptoes out of the room, careful not to wake Pitch up. Carefully shutting the door behind her, she runs through the halls. She searches every room, except Pitch s, that is. She found nothing. Alexis rubs the back of her head in frustration, she had to eat. At least like six times a day. She had to get to a store somehow. That s when she got it, kinda. It was a fifty-fifty chance it would work.  
Running back to her room, she didn t care if she woke up Pitch this time. She needed him now. Slamming the door open didn t help much, neither did stomping her foot. Then, an awesome idea came into her head.  
WRECKING BALL! She shrieked. Pitch woke up with a start to see a girl running towards him, and leaps into the air. He yelps as she comes down on his chest, hard. He groans in pain. That hurt. Alexis laughs as he grimaces.  
What was that for? he asks/screams. He was angry, that really hurt. That s when he stopped, thinking that had hurt. Nothing ever really hurt him before. Not anytime he could remember. He shakes his head and pushes it out of his mind. Now he was wondering if it was too late to kick the girl out.  
Why hadn t he kicked her out yet? He planned to do that later, he had to think of a plan first. Plus, he wanted to find her fear first. The thought saddened him, he kinda didn t want her to leave, and he didn t know why. Why was this little girl so important to him?  
I m hungry, I m outta food, so I need you to make something. She replies. Pitch looks at her, was she implying that he make her food? He hadn t made food ever. In fact, he didn t remember being little ever. That struck him as odd, and the oddest thing? He had a feeling she knew why.  
You expect me to make you food? he asks. She stares at him second and laughs. She knew he couldn t make food, which was why she wanted him to make something else. She would have to trick him though, he wouldn t do it willingly. No, something else. Follow, slave! she shouts. He just stands there, but she pulls him to his feet and drags him. Alexis drags him through the caves, then up the hole in the ground. Finally, she lets him go. Pitch was used to her pulling him and being his support, so he falls to the ground. Alexis rolls her eyes. Ok, so you are going to make nightmare sand, and I will tell you how to assemble it. Got it? she asks/demands. Now Pitch rolls his eyes. She expected him to just follow her and do what she says? Nuh uh.  
And if I don t? he asks back. Alexis smirks real evilly. Pitch steps back, but then thinks, why am I afraid of this girl? He steps back up. What happens to Fearlings after an innocent child touches it? she asks. Pitch narrows his eyes. Was she seriously going there?  
It depends, if the child doesn t touch it in time, it will go inside of them. But if they do, by some chance touch them, then they turn back human. He says, his voice getting lower with each word.  
Then that answers your question, doesn t it? she asks raising an eyebrow. Pitch gulps, but then relaxes. There was a better chance her turning into a fearling, just like the rest of those spoiled brats that tried to stay with him. He didn t care about them, though. So why this girl?  
So? More chance you get turned into a fearling. He replies. A look of fear goes through her eyes, but Pitch still couldn t feel her fear. He grits his teeth. But why was she scared? Actually, a one-hundred percent chance I will. She thinks. She shake the thought out of her head, she could never let anyone know. And she wasn t going to take chances on Pitch being able to look into her fears.  
I hear there are some pretty powerful spirits that might be peed off if I do turn them back. Want to take that chance? she asks. Pitch gulps and Alexis smiles. She had to think fast, and she thought she did a good job. Pitch stops and thinks.  
Fine. He answers. Alexis laughs and starts ordering him.

Pitch didn t actually know what she was making until it was a little too late. It was a car. When it was done, Alexis squealed. She ran up to it and hugged it. Since it was nightmare sand, everything was black. No matter, it was still a car. You have to be kidding me. Pitch mumbles. Alexis drags Pitch towards it and she gets into the driver s seat. Pitch stands there.  
What are you doing in the driver s seat? Heck! Why did you even make me make a car?! he asks. Alexis smiles up at him.  
Well, I m hungry. We are going to the store. She answers. Pitch frowns, this girl was crazy.  
We don t have money, and I am not robbing another bank just for you to give back the money in a manila envelope! he shouts. Alexis laughs.  
You are starting to remember that night. You re still mad? she asks, teasing him. Pitch grunts. I will take that as a definite yes. She says.  
Get out of the driver s seat. He commands. Alexis just looks at him. Are you deaf? Get out of the driver s seat! he shouts. Alexis raises an eyebrow, reaches over, and locks the door. Pitch s mouth drops and he stares at her.  
No. she says. Pitch tries ponding on the glass. Open up the frikin car door! Your acting like a spoiled brat. He says. Alexis smiles.  
I am a spoiled brat. She replies. Plus, I know how to drive. She replies.  
You re what? Fourteen? How could you possibly know how to drive? There is a fine line between playing Grand Theft Auto and driving an actual car. He explains. Alexis smile gets wider.  
I have driven a car, heck! I have a flippin car! So can you stop being a spoiled brat yourself and get the frik in? I will run over your foot. She asks. Pitch raises an eyebrow.  
I m not even going to ask how you got a car. He says. Then, giving up, he gets into the passenger side. It was a gift. She says before pushing the pedal. Pitch rolls his eyes and looks down. Holy crap, it was a standard!  
Holy crap! It s a flippin standard. Do you even know how to? he asks. Alexis rolls her eyes.  
Yes, well kinda. I had my mom explain it like a hundred times. Plus, you can t even drive a car yourself. You re from a different era, dude. She says, and then laughs like it was hilarious. Pitch raises an eyebrow.  
Then how about you teach me? he asks. Alexis smiles while looking ahead. She shifts into second gear. Then, she listens to the rhythm of the car. As he heard the car power down a little, she shifted into third gear.  
Just a second, it s hard to drive past trees. She replies. Then, they reach the city of Burgess. She stops in the grass right outside of it.  
CHINESE FIREDRILL! she shouts. Pitch winces and grabs his ears.  
What the frik does that mean? he asks, partially shouting because he thought his ears were now messed up. She laughs.  
I don t really know. One of mom s friends told me that once, said that when he said that that we hurry and switch places in the car. She answers. So let s try but Pitch covers her mouth.  
Don t you dare. He replies. He rushes out of the car and so does Alexis. They switch seats. Pitch pushes the controls on the seat so it would fit him. Since Alexis was so short, she had to lift it up A LOT. So Pitch had to lower it some.  
You guys can skip this part; it s just me teaching him to drive it.  
Well, you obviously know you can t start it like a regular automatic car. See that petal down there? She asks, pointing to the clutch. Pitch nods. You have to push that down. She instructs. Pitch goes to step on it. No! she shouts. Pitch looks at her.  
What? he asks. He was only doing what she said to. She rolls her eyes.  
Even though you don t need to, you SHOULD press the brake, Sherlock. She says. Pitch rolls his eyes and pushes in the brake and clutch. Put your left foot on the clutch and the right on the break. Now, turn the keys. Good. She says. The car roars to life.  
She then thwacks him. Hey! he shouts.  
Always make sure you are on first gear! she shouts, and Pitch looks down. It was on third gear. Rolling his eyes, he turns it to first. Then, he lets the clutch go and the car stalls.  
What happened? he asks. Alexis face palms and slides her hand slowly down her cheek.  
You stalled it, idiot. She replies. Pitch sends her a glare.  
Then how do I keep it on? he asks impatiently. Do the same thing you did before. She says. Pitch nods and pushes in the clutch and brake and turns the ignition. Now, move your right foot off the brake and gently push the gas while slowly letting off the clutch. She says. A hundred stalls and the car abruptly stopping later, Pitch was finally able to make the car go.  
Ok, done teaching him.  
doing it! he yells. Alexis winces and covers her ears. Pitch looks over. Sorry. He says while smiling. Turning the car, he gets on the main road. That s when he realizes, he doesn t know how to shift. Um quick question. How do I shift? he asks, his voice rising as he talks.  
I don t know, Alexis says shrugging. It s hard to explain. You just feel it. She explains. Pitch turns to her.  
You have got to be kidding me! Feel it? he asks. The car was starting to slow down and cars were behind him.  
Well, you feel the pattern of the car. Like, you can feel the power go down. Right now! Shift. She instructs. In a panic, Pitch turns to second. He feels the car speed up, and then hears the hum as it goes down. He shifts again.  
I m doing it! he shouts. Alexis laughs. She nods. I wonder if this car has music she wonders. She looks down and sees the radio. Yes! Alexis turns the knob.  
Holy crap! We get XM! she yells. Pitch winces.  
What the heck is that? he asks. Alexis turns to him.  
It s radio. She replies. Boy, this guy was in the dark. But I guess that happens when you re isolated for a millennium.  
Oh. He replies. Alexis turns on the radio. She shrieks with joy.  
One Direction! she shrieks. Pitch rolls his eyes.  
You have got to be kidding me, your one of those people? he asks. Alexis was surprised, he knew what that was?  
Yes. How do you know about it? she asks. Pitch looks to her.  
You will not BELIEVE how many dreams I had to ruin that were filled with, Oh Harry! or Yes I will marry you! I nearly puked. He said. Alexis turns away from him.  
I m not obsessed with them. I like there music, and of course who wouldn t think they re cute. She says. Pitch fidgets in his seat, this conversation was getting awkward.  
Yeah, well. At least you re not obsessed. He replies. Alexis smiles.  
Not obsessed. She agrees. Pitch laughs. That s when it happened. Another fearling left. Alexis was used to it now, so she wasn t shocked. She smiled as his other eye turns green. So they carried on having fun, had a few more Chinese fire drills, people staring at Alexis (It was because some couldn t see Pitch or his sand, making Alexis look like she was floating), Pitch pretending to stall out, and etc. And neither of them noticed they forgot to go to the grocery store.

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sHey guys, sorry I haven t been updating as much. I am really trying. It will be bett


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